What are time zones?

This week, the children were introduced to time zones. They talked about how they have family in different parts of the world and they need to think about the time difference when they ring them. They recapped how the world rotates around the sun to make day and night and how the times will be different in the world. Then the children used a time zone map to identify the different lines of longitude which split the world into different time zones. The Prime Meridian is where the time zones begins, this means that the countries to the east of us will be ahead of us (in time). Whereas, the countries to the west of us will be behind us in time. 

To consolidate their learning, the children used live links to compare what is happening in different parts of the world.